Project building skills in women

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Project building skills in women102705 news11Athens Banner-HeraldWhen Mary Weaver moved into her new home, every closet door that closed smoothly, every faucet that didn't drip and every floorboard that didn't creak held a special meaning for the first-time homeowner - because she helped build it.--> Project building skills in women Athens Habitat Planning to draw more female volunteers into work Story Photos Det. Beverly Russell marks a measurement Tuesday as Habitat for Humanity Construction Manager Spencer Frye helps Officer Tracy Hardigree with the blueprint at Lowe's on Epps Bridge Parkway. Several women from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department volunteered to work on a Women Build house. Monira Al-Haroun Silk/Staff

Hardigree measures where a door will go in the house, which will be moved from the Lowe's parking lot to Dorsey Village next week. Monira Al-Haroun Silk/Staff

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By Merritt Melancon | juliana.melancon@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 11:49 PM on Wednesday, October 26, 2005 When Mary Weaver moved into her new home, every closet door that closed smoothly, every faucet that didn't drip and every floorboard that didn't creak held a special meaning for the first-time homeowner - because she helped build it.

A large majority of Habitat for Humanity homeowners in Athens are like Weaver - women who head single-parent households, said Bob Pause, executive director of Athens Area Habitat for Humanity.

And while all of these women have worked on the construction of their homes and several other Habitat homes, the majority of the volunteers on Habitat construction sites are men, said Annique Gerson, Athens Area Habitat's volunteer coordinator.

Athens Habitat is looking to change that with its second Women Build - a house under way in front of Lowe's on Epps Bridge Parkway that will be moved to 155 New Hope Drive after the first phases of construction.

It's the future home of Yolanda Young and her children.

Most Habitat for Humanity affiliates hold a Women Build, a Habitat house built entirely by female volunteers, to encourage more women to volunteer on co-ed construction sites and to build camaraderie between their female volunteers, Gerson said. Athens Area Habitat's first Women Build project was in 2002.

"There are women on almost every build site," Gerson said. "But the majority of (the volunteers) are guys. I guess we just thought that this would be a good chance to get more women to come out and build. It's an opportunity for them to build and learn how to build without feeling intimidated."

The Women Build projects give women a chance to share construction skills they've picked up over the years, to gain confidence with the skills they already have and to learn new skills - expertise they can share with others at future Habitat builds, said Spencer Frye, Athens Area Habitat's construction manager.

"The volunteers on the women's builds have all different levels of skill and experience," Frye said. "The ones who knew what they were doing were helping the ones who are new at this. I've had a lot of women who have kept up with the skills that they learned on the last women's build come back this time. And that's been very helpful."

Beverly Russell, a detective with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department who was framing the Women Build house Tuesday, has amassed an interesting potpourri of construction skills over the years through mission trips with her church and through trial and error at home.

Last year, her mission group helped repair a sagging roof, replaced doors and windows and siding on a house in Missouri, but she's never framed a house before, she said as she worked at a large table saw with fellow Athens-Clarke police Officer Courtney Gale.

But the relationships and cooperation built on the construction site are most important part of the work, Gale said.

It's something that the handful of female police officers at Tuesday's build need because most of them work different shifts and schedules, said Gale.

"It's really just nice being out and working with other people from the police department," she said. "We don't usually get to hang out a lot. There has been a lot of camaraderie building today."

All that camaraderie building will come in handy when she invites her new friends - with their newly honed skills - to help her build a barn at her home in southern Oconee County, Gale joked.

Working on the house also gives the Women Build volunteers a connection to Young, the woman who will own the house, since she will work on the house with the volunteers.

"It feels good to be trying to help someone who really is trying to make it," said Erin Fuller, an Athens-Clarke patrol officer who was building Tuesday.

It's not uncommon for women who work on Habitat sites to keep the desire to take on new projects after the build, Gerson said.

"In my experience so far, women have told me that they leave with new skills and that they want to use them," Gerson said. "I've heard, 'I just helped my cousin put a new roof on her house because I learned how to put down shingles on the build,' or 'I've installed some new siding on my house after I learned how to on the Habitat house.' "

It's exciting to see women build as a team - without male volunteers - using skills they learned on regular Habitat projects, said Weaver, the woman who owns a Habitat house.

"Just to see a group of women just doing this - getting it done - is the most exciting thing about a women's build," Weaver said. "Just watching them take on the circular saw or swing a hammer ... it's exciting to see everyone working together."